Since getting into the hobby, it seems I'm a bit stuck on where to go next.

What are some of the more useful prints you have made recently? Were they self designed?

Sorry if someone's posted this pic already; I just came across it recently

Anyone else get a bonus like this before? Atomic PLA ordered from Amazon

I needed a phone charger at work, but didn't want to just pick up the first one available from a webshop, so I decided to design my own using the Bambu Lab Wireless Charging Kit K012.

I definitely wanted to make use of the included N20 gear motor, and after a lot of thinking, I decided to turn it into a wind turbine. Wind turbines generate electricity, which complements a wireless charger quite nicely.

The idea was simple: place the phone on the marked spot, the phone starts charging, and the blades start spinning. It creates the illusion that the wind turbine is generating the energy to charge the phone (obviously, it's just an illusion, as the turbine is driven by an electric motor).

There were a few technical challenges along the way. The motor cable was too short to place the motor at the top of the turbine, and doing so would also have raised the center of gravity. In the end, I put the motor in the base and drove the blades through a long driveshaft and a set of bevel gears.

After four prototypes, the sculpture finally came together, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The whole thing is fully printable on a Bambu Lab A1 Mini.

What do you think?

If anyone wants to check it out, I'll leave the link in the comments.

Quick question for A1 users: how do you deal with magnets in your prints?

I’m too lazy to do that 😂

I ended up making a mod so the A1 places them on its own mid-print. Been working pretty well so far. If you're curious, the digital pack (3mf, software, BOM, instructions) is here: magnetplace.myshopify.com

Also if you want to see how it works, you can go check my video on yt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrxcdz3Gung&t=5s

Just Got the new A1 mini with Kg of white PLA and transparent PETG .

What should print first ?
And what should print to upgrade the Bambu lab set up.

A real, working desk fan: a 775 DC motor spins a printed compressor-style impeller, which pulls air in through the inlet and blows it out of the outlet flange at the top. A PWM controller in the base gives you a speed knob.

• 4 printed parts: housing, impeller, motor holder, base (~0.9 kg PLA/PETG)
• Housing needs ~256 mm build height and tree supports
• Runs on a 12 V / 5 A adapter, so no mains wiring needed
• PETG recommended for the motor holder (the motor gets warm)

Fully 3D printed subwoofer enclosure, PA-12 CF, with PEBA gaskets running a Resonix GUS 10-D2 at 500W. Sounds and fits absolutely perfect

I have been working on a small run of display pieces that feature the 3 transformation masks and Majoras mask from The Legend of Zelda, Majoras Mask.  Some WIP photos show the masks in various stages of completion.

I sculpted the masks in blender, using the models from the 3DS version of the game as a base and then adding detail to increase the fidelity and find my own interpretations of the original designs.  I then printed each mask in two parts using a FDM printer, primed, and painted them (which is still in progress).

I plan to mount each set of 4 masks into a deep box frame, using magnets which I embedded into each print to secure them in place.

Any comments, questions or feedback on the WIP photos would be much appreciated!

So, as some of you may know, a while back there was a free tool made by Smoggy3D called Map2Model.

Map2Model was a free web-based tool that converted real-world map data into 3D-printable models of cities, neighborhoods, and landscapes. Users could select an area on a map and generate downloadable STL or 3MF files featuring buildings, roads, terrain, and waterways.

Smoggy3D took down this tool - widely believed due to purported legal threats - many guessed at the time that Lichtbild, a company that sells 3D printed models of cities, neighborhoods, and landscapes, was responsible.

A new tool has taken its place called Mini Skyline. it has expanded on the concept and improved its capabilities quite a bit. It's a free tool. It's pretty awesome and you should give it a try.

Anyway, now it has been revealed (edit: in the Mini Skyline discord) that Lichtbild is making similar "overtures" to Mini Skyline.

In my opinion, this is a case of a business whose "golden goose" is evaporating and they're desperately trying to protect their business moat via legal bullying. Mini Skyline makes it easy for others to provide the service of making printed 3D models of cities and landscapes and that threatens Lichtbild's bottom line. Mini Skyline generously allows you to sell or distribute any models you make via the tool.

I am not a lawyer, and I'm not intimately familiar with the claims being made since those are not public, but I think the community should at least have awareness of this situation as more and more companies are going to try this stuff as 3D printing becomes more popular.

Also, I want to point out that there is now a downloadable desktop version of the software - so even if the threats turn into actual legal action and the site is taken offline, there will be a version you can use in perpetuity.

Edit: also I want to make it clear I am in no way linked or related to any of these projects in any way. I am simply a fan and as a businessperson myself, these tactics bother the shit out of me.

Hey everyone!

I’m a huge 3D printing enthusiast who loves making things.
Today, I wanted to share an updated version of one of my earlier designs Pocket Kart v2.0!

It’s been through countless tweaks and revisions, but I’m pretty happy with how it finally turned out.

I put a lot of care into this little kart, and I hope you like it too!

See you all with my next project!

I've been looking for a simple tool changer that i can use specifically for support material. i dont want to change to a new main toolhead/carriage, and i dont need it to be perfect. well i couldnt find one, so i made one.

The goal was a secondary tool for support material, that doesn't compromise the speed or quality of the main tool.

The toolhead is held in place by a 3-point kinematic mount with a pair of large 15*5mm neodymium magnets that pulls the secondary tool to the main toolhead.

Because it uses magnets it has some limitations, primarily speed/accel. I ve been able to keep 7.5k accel but speeds have to come down to about 400mm/s max, it has the tendency to wobble above 500.

On the flip side, magnets means very little additional weight to the main toolhead, only about 20+ gms, and the main tool can continue performing as well as ever.

hotend is a tz v2.0, extruder is a single gear extruder in a Bowden set up, just something I had lying around really. This is a compromise, but it makes it way simpler and is more than capable of doing good support material.

Overall I'm very pleased by the results. Been a couple hundred changes now with no issues. Each change takes about 10-15seconds. I'm still tuning in the purge to address some oozing, but honestly, this is better than what I set out to achieve by a good margin. Even did a simple colour mixing test for kicks and it performed pretty much flawlessly. Black is abs, white is hips.

its still a little rough around the edges, but it works well. in theory this could go onto any toolhead that uses a 4010 fan. im quite open to sharing the designs, but im terribly disorganised and not sure its worth the effort to get everything together.

So I think this is the final design for the PS5 Pro digital, PS2-inspired 3D printable faceplate; I am curious about your thoughts.

Could please someone explain me the health risk of running and FDM in the same room you spend around 10hrs a day and how to protect yourself?

I was thinking about getting an enclosed one, ventilate and clear it, but I’m worried it’s not enough.

What started as a joking suggestion from my sister to print a running wheel for our tuxedo cat, Clio, quickly turned into a three-month engineering challenge. My main goal was to fabricate as much of the build as possible using 3D printing, relying only on wooden dowels, airsoft BBs for the custom bearings, and a bit of tension wire for non-printed hardware.

For the bearings, I tested my heavily upgraded Creality Ender 5 Pro to dial in custom components, achieving a smooth, zero-resistance spin that proved the machine upgrades were worth it. After printing track segments support-free, a worn belt on the Ender led me to transition to a Creality K1C, where I was relieved to find the parts from both machines matched with absolute dimensional accuracy, saving 4kg of filament.

For structural assembly, after initial interlocking pegs felt too flimsy, I designed a locking centre pin using the track's weight-reduction holes, providing the rigidity needed to support a 1-metre diameter and 25cm width structure.

Eager to see the wheel assembled, I threw an initial base together, which a fellow Creality Cloud user named Евгений Платов later helped refine to improve stability (Print profile in the model link).

A year later, I entered the completed wheel into a Creality Cloud pet supplies contest on a whim. To my absolute shock, it pulled in 8.5K views, 1.8K downloads, and placed first overall, becoming my best-performing model to date.

Over 6kg of filament later, Clio will hop on for a quick spin every few months just to justify its presence in the house, though she mostly uses it as an elevated surface to eat treats. She is worth every gram of plastic, and I hope other makers and their cats get to enjoy the design just as much.

Download my free model on Creality Cloud:

https://www.crealitycloud.com/model-detail/mega-project-cat-exercise-wheel

The build guide is also available in the above link.

Hi all. I’m an engineer and as a hobby I design and print functional parts mostly with FDM such as clocks, automotive parts, and other hobby related stuff where dimensional accuracy is the most crucial metric in performance. I experimented with printing at higher speeds but settled at around 75mm/s to maintain accuracy reliably (that might just be due to my own laziness).

The last and probably highest end printers I bought was an ender 3 S1 pro whenever it came out (2020?).

Unfortunately I’ve had a house fire where basically everything including my 4 printers were destroyed.

I don’t keep up with the latest features and printers but a friend mentioned to me how much printers had advanced in the last 5 years. The most advanced thing I was utilizing was auto leveling in all my fdm printers, so nothing too crazy.

I want to buy a new printer sometime in the future with something like a 220x220 to 250x250 bed, but size isnt a hard constraint.

I have a couple questions you guys might be able to answer:

What new tech and features have been added to printers in the last 5 years?

Do off the shelf printers come with these features or does it still make sense to build one?

What’s the slicer you recommend? I was mostly using Prusa because it did everything I needed it to at the time.